Rosh Chodesh Elul: Psalms of Wonder, Loss, and Transformation

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Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

Transcript

Transcript

All right, I'm putting on my towel eat, although it looks like many of you have already done that, and even in Ricky's case, you've already got your to fill in on your hardcore ready to go. I'm noticing as I put my arms up with my talus, I'm seeing Ellen stretch up with her arms too. You know, I feel like you learn every day when you do a ritual all the different ways that the ritual operates. And it's like you think you're just putting on a talus, but actually you're stretching. You're stretching your ribs. You're breathing more deeply into your lungs. So even if you don't have a tallit, feel free to, you know, do any of the things that are part of the ritual, that are a good benefit in the morning, but see and

Today is Rosh Chodesh. It is the first of Elul. And so there are a whole bunch of Psalms and customs that go along with Rosh Chodesh, and also specifically with Rosh Chodesh Elul. And so we're all we're going to do, almost none of a regular service, and do a lot of things that are associated with this day, and just spend a little more time looking at what these things are, because it doesn't happen very often, and Rosh Chodesh Elul only happens once a year. So let me show you. This is Psalm 104 so um,

bar enough, she tadonai, Adonai, Aloha, gadal team, oh Darla, Vashta, oter or kasama no teshamayim Kiriya,

or maybe you recognize the tune from Godspell.

Oh, bless the Lord my soul, his great will be proclaimed and all that is within me, rejoice and bless His holy name.

No, no, no takers. Okay. Anyway, bless the Lord my soul. Oh God. You are very great. You are clothed in glory and majesty, wrapped in a robe of light. You spread the heavens like a tent cloth. And this also, by the way, I think some of this psalm appears around the liturgy for putting on a Tallis that we, you know, we in robing ourselves in a tallit imitate the robe of light that God is cloaked in in the universe, in our world. So, isn't that beautiful? Does he put on a tallit to really, like, you know, it's God wrapping God Self in a robe of light. We are robes in a robe of light as well. He sets rafters and his lofts in the waters, meaning the waters above, meaning the heavens, makes clouds. His chariot moves on the wings of the wind. It's beautiful. Imagery doesn't help the argument that, you know, we don't have, we don't have reasons to like imagine that the text gives us a, you know, a God who's a guy riding in a chariot in the sky. But it's a metaphor he makes. Wins, His messengers, fiery flames, His servants. He established the Earth and its foundations so that it will never totter. This person never experienced an earthquake. You made the deep cover. You made the deep cover. It as a garment. The waters stood above the mountains. They fled at your blast. Rushed away at the sound of your thunder, mountains, rising, valleys sinking to the place that you established for them. And, I mean, it's just this was the stuff was written 1000s of years ago. I'm imagining before they really had a sense of geologic time. You know the fact that that actually the world isn't static, but, but they, they seem to know that once upon a time, there were oceans over the mountains, right? And that God sort of took God's proverbial thumb and pushed valleys down and made up mountains rise up, and somehow separated these things and and now we know that from geology, you know, if you go and you look, there are layers and layers and layers in any mountain, nothing is static. Everything has come to be over millions and millions of years. You set bounds they must not pass so that they never again. Cover the earth. You make springs gush forth in Torrance, they make their way between hills, giving drink to all the beasts the wild asses Lake. Their thirst. The birds of the sky dwell beside them and sing among the foliage. I'm gonna go down here to the bottom here, there's, there's a lot of nature and animals sort of frolicking in nature. Imagery. How many are the things you have made? Oh, God, Ma. Rabbi, mahasa, arunai kulam, the hohma, Asita, malaha, Aretz, Kenya. Neha, you have made them all with wisdom. The earth is full of your creations. I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. Ashira, Adonai bachaya, azamra LELO, hi be od May my prayer be pleasing. I will rejoice. May sinners disappear from the earth, may the wicked be no more. Barkhi, nafshi et Adonai, hallelujah. Bless the Lord. My soul. Any ideas why this would be the Psalm we say every new month for Rosh Chodesh. Why this would be associated with the new month? Any brilliant ideas or not so brilliant hunches.

Seems like a dedication to the wonders of the world. So as the moon disappears and then comes back, it's sort of like the cycles and the reminder of the wonders of the world.

That's beautiful, that's beautiful. So Right? Like the moon being one of those wonders, which, by the way, I didn't, I didn't see a line here dedicated for the moon, but we know right now, if you look up in the sky tonight, if it's clear, you will see only the faintest, little, tiny, thin sliver of a moon. And that tininess is actually a reminder of the cycles of nature functioning correctly so for the person 2000 years ago who relied on the light of the moon to travel by night, they're not going anywhere right now, right? But actually that that lack is evidence of the abundance of everything functioning the way it's supposed to. I'm seeing other people's stuff here. We are bound in time by celestial objects, and we're all recognizing, recognize so much outside of ourselves. Ah, would somebody please send you a link to the text here? I'll drop this in. I'll drop this in the chat. Lexi Oh, Susanna. Susanna beat me to it. There you go. Yeah. Any other any other suggestions I'm asking, like I I don't have a better answer than any of you. I think these are all beautiful suggestions.

Well, I just want to say it might be comfort, because 1000s of years, 2000 years ago, Moon disappearing is scary, and so it's kind of trying to comfort the people that it's okay and everything will be there. And there's a few other things that we don't need to go into that are there, that are pretty scary as well. So it's just trying to comfort people. And

I take it back, look, there's a line about the moon. Asaya rea lemodim, Shemesh Yadav, oh, he made the moon to mark the seasons and the sun to know when to set you bring on darkness. And it is night when all the beasts of the forest stir. This is, this is great. It's like really playing with all of the kinds of metaphors that often are thought of as, like, you know, dark is often the I don't know dark. Dark is often a euphemism for bad and and it's like, no, no, no, no, no. You know what happens in the dark? The beasts all come out and they do their beast stuff, because they got to do that, and that's very important. In the forest, the lions Aurora for their prey, seeking food from God. When the sun rises, they come home and they go to sleep, you know? And here's the cycle, and then the human being goes out to work, and then labors until the evening. But there's an important cycle happening. It's all about creation. It's not one time thing. It happens again and again. And I

don't get us that people are sitting in the crosswalks. People are sitting not leaving cars. That's what I don't get. Like, really say

again? Susan,

sorry. Well, I have, I have an issue. I'm outside. I thought I was muted. Okay, there's a lot of cars thing happening, sorry. Can you mute me absolutely,

like I missed the line where the people were sitting in the crosswalks.

I know. I know. And because Susan is very smart, I was like, she is going somewhere deep with this. Right now, Susan, I hope, I hope you're okay, and I hope everything's okay. I

feel like there's a I was thinking of the what you shared at Shabbat Rabbi Lizzi and like the the how you say a blessing, sort of like before receiving all of the pleasure abundance, and how this is sort of like marking, okay, we're beginning. It's like, you know, the beginning of a new month. We're like appreciating the world anew, to receive it, and sort of like naming all of the what we live, you know, within a month as part of,

yeah, oh, thank you for saying that. That's right, because you know, like, it's hard to be grateful for something you can't name, you know, or it's hard to it's it's hard to experience gratitude if you don't know, if you can't see or feel, if you're not aware of what, of what there is to be grateful for. And so often we just do our lives on autopilot. And this psalm is like a little reminder to look at all of the things that we might take for granted or just pass by without noticing and saying, notice, notice, notice, it's the beginning of a new month. Wake back up again. You're gonna go to sleep. We'll do this again next month. You know, Yeah, beautiful. Okay. And so then, now I'm going to move us. This is like a journey. This is a journey through the Psalms of the season. So I know yesterday, with Rabbi Stephen, you began to do the psalm for the month of Elul, which is Psalm 27 and so. And for this, I want to give us a new a new tune. But this is, this might be a little bit clearer why this is the psalm for the month of Elul, although I'm curious to hear your thoughts

the Davi that on Iowa really IS SHE Me, me, Adonai Ozai, Mimi efcha,

a Psalm of David. God is my light and my help. Whom should I fear? God is the stronghold of my life. Whom shall I dread when evil men assail me to devour my flesh? It is they, my foes, my enemies, who will stumble and fall. Should an army Besiege me, my heart would have no fear. Should war beset me still, I would have faith. Besot ani botayach In this I will have faith also this translation. I mean, like we could really play with this translation, have a lot of fun, because the way that the punctuation settles, you know, whether you see a period at the end of this sentence, or, for example, a colon in this I would trust colon that completely changes the Next sentence of a Keith Schnabel, shifty bevet, Adonai. Coheme, no, I'm Adonai over care. Behalo One thing I ask of God, one thing do I seek to live in the house of God all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to frequent His temple. And then finally, we get down to toward the bottom here. Hear God when I cry aloud, have mercy on me and answer me on your behalf. My heart says, My heart says, seek my face. Oh Lord, I seek your face. So don't hide from me. Don't thrust me aside in anger. You have always been my help. Don't forsake me. Don't abandon me. God, my deliverer, these are words we are going to see appear and reappear in the High Holidays. By the way,

Lule wrote, betuvana cavern, I met libera the cave. Adonai

let me have the assurance that I will enjoy the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Look to the Lord. Be strong and of good courage and look to the Lord. I'm gonna play a tune. I'm gonna play an ally Halpert tune for this song, and then as the as the song is playing, after you get to see her and Joey, you know, sort of singing it. So you can get a visual for that. I'm going to come back to this and just scroll down the words and let them sink in for this month of Elul as a Kavana. I can

you all hear it?

Name, O King,

Our Kings,

Oh, she

Om Hashem,

She

Oh, isn't That beautiful? Oh? Oh,

wow.

I doesn't

that tune really like capture. I don't know the feeling of loss in this moment and the feeling of loss that goes along with transformation. You know that, like very often, we think of the High Holidays as overwhelmingly joyful. You know, when we're moving in a joyful way toward a joyful time, but we're about to hear shofar, and as much as the call of the shofar can sound like a joyful noise, it is also weeping. It's also loss. And in this, you know, in this moment, I'm just, I'm conscious of how much of that loss we're holding from so many different directions. And I wanted to, I wanted to choose a tune for this ahacha AlTi that captured some of. That yearning and and the sadness of moving forward and leaving behind possibility that we've realized is is not going to happen. You know, like that's actually part of the High Holidays, is beginning a process of shedding, you know, skin we're not going to wear anymore, even if, even if we really hope to. It's true for us, true for our community, true for the world, and then wondering what might open up. So Ricky, thank you for being our shofar blaster this morning.

Are there particular calls that you want to hear this morning?

You know, based on my research, the way, at least that's on Chabad, is there's like a series. I can just do it. Call it. Let

me just do it. All right, you got this, Ricky, you got this, and we're all gonna listen. And I know, for everybody who was here yesterday, like, Wait, first of all, Ricky, are you set on original sound so that it's not going to turn off the Okay, amazing, good, good, good. And then for all of us, just like really on this Rosh Chodesh opening, feeling our hearts opening, feeling our ears opening. This is a mitzvah, by the way, to hear the shofar and just all parts of ourselves really being called forth as we hear this sound in, in whatever way toward, toward whatever it is, you know. And it's only the the first of Elul. So, you know, if you don't have all the answers of what this is supposed to mean to you right now, that's okay, too, You know, it's just the beginning of an opening.

Ah. Out, maybe we should say because it's my new shofar, the first time I've blown it in. Hello. Oh,

and it

sounds great. It sounds great. Yes, absolutely. Um

baruja na elohinu, melecha, Olam, shahanu, vikia, Manu overhe, yanu, las man has that. Hey,

Mame, and we're going gonna go straight from there. We're gonna go into a at least a little bit, a little bit of Hallel, because, after all, it is Rosh Chodesh, um. And on Rosh Chodesh, we do a little bit of joyful, joyful prayer out of the same, same, same book of Psalms, different set of different set of Psalms For Hallel. So here we go. Hang on turning that we're doing. We're doing all this stuff out of order in a very in a way that's kind of fun and and Fancy Free this morning. Ba

Rucha, Adonai, Eloheinu melech, ha Ola, Masha, Keith, Schnabel, tab, Vit, vanulikro,

et ha Hale, and

now you all Do that. It's okay if you come off mute. Yeah.

People, okay, and then go back on mute.

Mickey Mimi, a far down spot here, maybe on the hoshivim. Nidhi v mi amor Moe de Mali, Miss mija I hallelujah, let's say Israel. Mimi, try be di Yako, me, I'm Lois Hai, Taye, Huda, le, coach, O Y, Israel, Mam, shalota I am Rabbi Deena. Deena hisola. Hey. Harim Rab do Keith.

Keith Schnabel a Don Julie R S milief nei, Aloha, hora gamayim Alam,

Oh, wow. We're also saying Hallel, in honor of the seventh anniversary of Martin Lee Friedman, aka teddy bear. Moses, happy to be on this adventure with all of you through life's losses, darkness, light and joy from Felicia savage. Friedman, oh, Mazel, Tov to y'all on your seventh anniversary, that is a beautiful thing. Oh, now it's your sabbatical year. So are you gonna take a break or stay in it? I'm just kidding. It's like seven years and now you guys are really now, and Now it's now. It's real. I don't

know it's

Mata

am verru, him a Tem lado Na,

o se Shamai ra hallelujah de hallelujah

Oh, yeah. Oh, irene's 33rd wedding anniversary. Who would have thunk that Irene and her husband and Martin and Felicia would share an anniversary date on the first of Elul with Martin and Felicia? Yes, forgive your emotional debts to each other, and for this spiritual soul for your next seven year, I love it so good. That's so good. And I'm just, I'm noticing about all of these psalms that we're doing that happen to populate the the story of Hallel. I mean, it's not exactly a story, but it's a little bit of a story. It's sort of a collection of Psalms, but the story being told in each one of them is somebody offering immense gratitude. You know, every every Psalm ending in hallelujah, but there's something in each one that gives you a clue that they have gone through great tragedy and are aware of mortality, right? May the holy one heap abundance on you and your descendants. May the maker of heaven and earth and the heavenly realms, may they belong to God, but the earth belongs to us. And what that means is we will die, and people we love will die, and the dead don't praise lo hameti Me, hallelujah, beloho, your de Duma, nor those who go down in silence. And so if we are here, the anaknu Navarre, Yama atave adolam, hallelujah. And so if we were are here, we will praise you from now until whenever, forever, hallelujah. And so I know everyone in this minyan has gone through some shit in whatever way I know, and some of you are still going through it now. And if somebody's listening to this later, and you're here, you're here, you showed up to praise, to offer gratitude and to sing, and to know that you have more depth within yourself than just sadness and showing up as the thing says, Susanna, we will not be defined by our losses, but we will carry them with us, and they will define how we move forward. Yesterday, I stood. Outside of the Israeli consulate with a bunch of Israeli Americans, most of them, some, you know, like people who have lived here for a few years, people who have lived here for decades, but people who really, like deeply identify as Israeli and felt like they wanted to be on the streets of Tel Aviv, blocking the highway, you know, along with 500,000 of their brothers and sisters, asking for this war to come to an end, you know, for the government to prioritize making a deal, to bring home the hostages instead of continuing to fight. And we stood out there, and it was from the place of Lojo, your day, Dumas, like the sign the dead cannot do this anymore. We maybe were relying on them and their their spirits like way in their lives. We were relying on them to give us hope, but now we need to be the people giving each other hope. And so, you know, as I think about what does it mean to put these two sentences next to one another, the awareness of mortality and the obligation to praise. I want to invite all of us into the month of Elul to as Michelle Obama said, do something, not just praise with our mouths, but show up in whatever way we can, show up in whatever small way. So let's do one. Let's, let's do now our prayer for healing in this inside of Halal here, because all of these are prayers for our prayers for transformation. We're going to do this one. Let's see we're going to do we're going to do this as where is our where there we go. We're going to do this into our ANA, Adonai husiana. This is what we'll use as our healing prayer this morning to set our intention around everyone who is in need of love and healing. Healing. Of Mind, healing of spirit. I'm just looking at all these names here, and I'm adding to them. Thank you. Thank you people in our community saying the names of other people in our community. Hasida, bat Chaim, verifka, Aiden, shalom, Ben Abraham, Avinu Vasari, imenu LEAH Ari, as she continues to recover from her successful surgery, every brokenhearted one my brothers and sisters in Israel, the families of the six hostages who have died, and all of the families of the ones who remain, every single one of them that they be strong, that they survive. All right, my friends, so this is like a back and forth, or rather, it's like a every line you say twice, and then, if you're not already standing, how well is often done standing? I didn't, I didn't stand up. But when we get to the I don't Anna Adonai hoshiana that if you're able to stand, I invite you to stand, and I'm going to go under my Talit, and that's where we just ask a kind of pleading, simple prayer, may our prayers be answered, may they be successful.

Oh, keani, Tani ba tehili Shu, WA Oh, ke Anita ni batah, hee li Shu, shuwa, Evan masuha bonim, hai, Tala rospina, Evan masuha bonim, hi, talaro, SHP Na me, ta Dona, Nai, Taz, Hini flat the EIN

sa Adonai, nagihi, love and Ivo. This

is the day that God has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Let us send healing and comfort to everyone who needs it. May they touch a little bit of that gladness, and then you can repeat after me, and if you're able to unmute, you can come come off mute, and we

can hear each other.

Ah Nana,

Oh Adonai,

Adonai Huxley,

May These prayers be answered. I

be Adonai,

ha MI. PETA donai el Adonai, ela nu is through, ha, ba, votei. Mais Bea el Adonai, ela nu is through, ha. Ba, votei, ha, car No. Tamis, Bea Hali I Tave O D, C, O, D, C, O, do, La, do, Nai, Ki, to, Ki, le, Olam, ha, de,

Schnabel, all

right, we're running a little bit over, but kind of extraordinary. How not over we are running, given how many things we did this morning, we're gonna say Kadish chateau, mourners, Kaddish. Who is it that we're thinking about this morning as we remember them? Ah, Teresa Owen,

I'm saying Kaddish for my son's babysitter's cousin, Hersh Goldberg, Poland, who was one of the recently murdered hostages, and also for Rabbi Michael Lerner,

yes, Helene Rosenberg, Sylvia, herring, Nathan Pollock, Mark nerlove. And I'm going to add, I'm going to add to that list, Eric, thank you, just for, for every one of these beautiful souls. Aidan yushalmi, Ori, Dan Nino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel got almogsa Rusi, may their memories be blessings. Anyone else?

My aunt, Nancy. Jacobson,

Irene, will you lead us this morning here,

sure, as long as it's a little bigger, okay, sorry,

no problem. Is that better? Yeah.

Iskadal, but You ska dash. Schnabel, to be Schnabel, kucha Riku, the ILA Mikal, buchava, shirasa, Tushar bin yakamasa da Amiran, viyama, vmru, Ameen ya hey, Schnabel, Rabbi, Shamaya, for Haim, Elena be I'll call you for El bimu. Amen, amen. Osei, shalom, bibra, Mav Huya se Shalom. Elena be our call, yes, for El vial. Call your veil. Be in Rue amen,

amen. A. Oh say Shalom.

Bimro Malina will call Israel Amen, amen, amen,

to sing us out here. Shall I put back on the last minute of that beautiful ahacha alta we were listening to at the beginning? Okay,

you can play the whole thing

here. Yeah,

I'll start it here. Oh,

I will start it from the Beginning. Here we go. Hang on azi.

Aha Man. She's Here.

Ahazo

Call You

So beautiful, right? I.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai